DELAY THIS EXECUTION (2)

An hour before Henry Skinner was scheduled to be put to death, the Supreme Court issued a stay of execution. As I understand it, the court did not act on the issue of DNA testing, but rather on the fact that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reused to accept the claim that Skinner’s civil rights were violated by the State’s refusal to do that testing.

As an advocate for the death penalty, I don’t see this stay as a big deal. As a matter of fact, I called for a delay of the execution in my blog of March 21. I suspect that if this case results in further DNA testing, the results will show that Skinner is the killer and that should shut up all those death penalty opponents who have been screaming bloody murder about this case, both in the U.S. and abroad. Of course, if the testing absolves Skinner of this crime, so be it. I certainly do not want to see an innocent man put to death.

Here are a few excerpts from the Houston Chronicle:

U.S. SUPREME COURT DELAYS TEXAS EXECUTION
By Allan Turner

Houston Chronicle
March 25, 2010

HUNTSVILLE — The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday halted the execution of Henry Skinner just one hour before he was to be put to death for the 1993 murders of his Pampa girlfriend and her two adult sons.

The stay will remain in effect until the high court rules on a second petition filed by Skinner's attorneys asking for a review of an appellate court decision denying a request for DNA testing of bloody knives, material beneath the dead woman's fingernails, rape kit samples and other items found at the murder scene. Skinner's request for testing was denied because it was filed as a civil rights claim.

Lead attorney Rob Owen of the University of Texas' Capital Punishment Center said in his petition for a writ of certioari that seven of the nation's nine federal circuit courts of appeal would have accepted a civil rights claim. Only two, including the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth District, which turned Skinner down, would not.

Skinner's case gained international notoriety after journalism students from Chicago's Northwestern University reviewed the case, locating potential witnesses who hadn't been interrogated and drawing attention to the fact that seemingly important items never had been subjected to DNA testing.

Wednesday's Supreme Court action came after a series of setbacks for the killer. Earlier, the high court had refused to review the way a lower court had analyzed his claim of insufficient counsel. This week, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 7-0 against recommending his life be spared.

Initial DNA testing found that Skinner's clothing was positive for the blood of Twila Busby and one of her sons. Nuclear DNA testing of hair in her hand was positive for Skinner's DNA. But when the same hair was subjected to mitochondrial DNA testing, no trace of Skinner's DNA was found.